DVR Dillema and Time-Zone Tragedy

Here's a question sent in by avid reader, CM, who describes an interesting and all-to-common dilemma about time zones, DVRs and Niki Cage:

Dear HTF,

So I’ve been DVRing the Olympics faithfully, and actually watched some of it, but this time-difference thing is really throwing me off. I was really looking forward to watching the balance beam finals tonight, but while I was reading my “on demand” news on my phone today at lunch, I saw the headline that says Shawn Johnson won the gold…and I am so bummed!

So now I don’t even want to watch it – if I’m going to give up a few hours of my life, shouldn’t I at least be surprised at the end? Except for movies – I like happy endings and get very upset at sad ones. For example: HATED The Wicker Man. When has it EVER been a good idea to kill off Nicholas Cage????

By the way, that DVR REALLY came in handy during the marathon….

Signed, CM

I feel your pain. In fact you point out something that should be obvious to the rest of the world, but apparently isn't. If the event is important it should happen live during primetime in the USA, even if it is happening 13 time zones away. If Dancing With The Stars can do it, the Olympic organizers should play along. But alas, it's almost like there are more people in China than there are in the US, and they want events to happen sometime other than between 4 and 7 in the morning. Nice job having the DVR running - as your hero Sean Hannity would say, "you are a true American." (hat tip for learning that with that wonderful piece of technology you can watch an entire marathon in 43.2 seconds, and then ask yourself why they look so tired at the end)

The solution to your problem of finding out the results before you've had a chance to watch the event is pretty straightforward - simply call in sick for a couple weeks and hop on that quick flight from Kansas City to Beijing (58 seconds with a DVR, in actuality, with the time zone thing, you'll land in China several hours before you actually take off from KC). I'm sure you'll have no trouble getting a hotel room and scalping a few tickets. The Olympics really aren't that big a deal, probably you'll just see a few of the athlete's family members and a couple of reporters from the Kazakhstan Daily News. You are, however, guaranteed to run into Michael Phelps and his mom, because apparently they are ubiquitous around there.

Now, in answer to your Nicholas Cage question - I totally agree - taking him out at the end of the movie is a bad idea, it's better just to avoid giving him the part in the first place - better to cast Kevin Bacon or look-alike Danny DeVito.

Thanks for the questions, CM. Enjoy your time on the other side of the world - please don't text me the results, I have 687 hours of Olympics in the DVR to watch!